As mad as I'm sure all of us are at the Downton God (Julian Fellowes) for calling our Sybil home, I'm so thankful we weren't forced to sit through a funeral. I don't think I would have been able to handle it.
Poor Branson is just beyond heartbroken and all I want to do is hug him. Everyone, with the exception of Lord Grantham because, frankly, he he could give two craps, is trying their hardest to comfort Branson and deal with their own grief at the same time. Tom doesn't think there is anything they can do. He's lost the love of his life, after all.
As expected, Branson has no intention of staying at Downton. Once he is able to secure a job, he plans to leave and will have one of his cousins move in to help care for the baby. Matthew and Ethel would love Tom to stick around. There's no rush for him to leave and he is family, after all. Lord Grantham is the only one who is OK with him getting on with his life so quickly.
The topic of the christening comes up and Tom says he would like to name the baby Sybil because he wants to think of his beloved every time he looks at her.
You would think there wouldn't be a person on the planet that would have a problem with this but nooooooo! The Grinch of Grantham aka Robert thinks that would be entirely too morbid. It gets even better when Tom mentions that he wants the baby baptized in the Catholic church.
Lord Grantham's face:
Thank heavens Tom has Matthew in his corner. Tom confides in Matthew that he doesn't hate Downton he just knows he doesn't belong there. Matthew brings up the idea of him leaving baby Sybil at Downton when he leaves but Tom could never do that. She's all he has left in this world.
Thomas is still taking Lady Sybil's death hard but he's not letting his grief keep him from groping James every chance he gets. All of this is making James feel really uncomfortable. He's so serious about wanting it to stop that he tells O'Brien he's willing to go to Mr. Carson or even the police. O'Brien is not quite ready for her diabolical plan of bringing Thomas to his knees to come to a head so she urges James not to say anything.
Courtesy of Mrs. Patmore:
Cora is still blaming Lord Grantham for Sybil's death and she's still got him sleeping on the couch. It's her belief that it was Robert's elitist attitude that lead to Sybil dying. The only reason he believed Sir Tapsill over Dr. Clarkson is because Sir Tapsill has been knighted. She can't forgive him for putting pageantry before the life of his own child.
While Lord Grantham isn't any one's favorite person at this point, he is still reeling from Sybil's death, in his own way. Not only does he feel guilty about decisions made that night, he also believes his marriage may not bounce back from this. The Dowager was really quick to call BS on that one.
She suggests that they take some time apart. We get to see a much softer side of the Dowager and Lord Grantham when he calls her MaMa & she refers to him as her dearest boy. She knows her son is hurting and no mother wants to see their child in such pain.
Daisy has been spending time with Mr. Mason, a local farmer. Part of her is still pining after Alfred but she's trying very hard to play it off.
Daisy hooking up with Mr. Mason is equivalent to her hitting the lottery. He owns a working farm and all the equipment on it. Oh, and he wants to leave it all to Daisy someday.
Mr. Mason urges her to think of the future. Sure, she figured she would always have a life devoted to serving others but how long can vast estates like Downton continue to survive?
It's not all heaviness for Daisy, though. She gets to have a really sweat moment with Alfred where she teaches him to foxtrot. James joins in to show Alfred how the steps are suppose to go but around the corner comes Carson to fuss at them about playing around on the clock. Alfred doesn't say a word in their defense to Mr. Carson so now he's got to deal with Daisy & James being angry with him.
Isobel feels horribly about all the Crowley's have been through and decides to throw a luncheon for Cora and the girls. It sounds like a fab idea until she realizes that Ethel can't cook to save her life.
Ethel wants to make it special for all involved and asks Mrs. Patmore for help. This could be an issue considering Ethel's reputation as a lady of the night and the small fact that Mr. Carson has forbidden everyone at Downton from being within 500 feet of her. But, as Ethel points out, why should Isobel and the Crawley women have to suffer just because Isobel has chosen to be kind to her? Mrs. Patmore agrees and begins sneaking around in order to help Ethel.
That only lasts so long because eventually Carson sees Mrs. Patmore leaving Isobel's house. When he confronts Mrs. Patmore, Mrs. Hughes doesn't side with Carson and of course he is not pleased. Much like a mirror image of Lord Grantham, he's was to used to getting his own way.
Lord Grantham decides to invite Mr. Travis the Anglican minister to dinner and his reason for being there is so obvious.
Old dude isn't there 5 minutes and he attacks Branson's faith. Apparently God isn't pleased with Catholics and he wants Tom to know just how far into the depths of hell he has been damned. Even the folks downstairs have an opinion about Catholics.
Robert's plan of sabotage backfires and Ladies Edith, Mary, Matthew, and Isobel call come to Tom's and the global Catholic population's defense. Mr. Travis is backtracking his butt off at this point and Tom comes in for the kill: baby Sybil will be baptized in the "tribe" of her father.
Lord Grantham tries to protest but Lady Mary shuts him down really quickly. Sybil told her on the day she died that she intended for the baby to be Catholic.
Losing Lady Sybil so suddenly has Matthew and Mary thinking about how you can't take anything for granted. Matthew thinks Lord Grantham is taking Downton for granted. Things aren't the way they used to be and they can go about life as though they are if they intent to keep Downton alive. Lord Grantham is still avoiding business talk with Matthew. When Matthew brings up the subject for the millionth time I'm not sure what makes Lord Grantham more angry: It being done in front of Tom, who he sees as a nobody, or that Matthew points out that he's been mismanaging the estate.
The Dowager is really concerned about the state of Robert & Cora's relationship and she asks Dr. Clarkson over to talk. Cora is absolutely convinced that Sybil would have lived had Dr. Clarkson been able to intervene. The Dowager thinks that if Dr. Clarkson would just tell them that Sybil would have died either way, this would end their division. Dr. Clarkson can't say that for certain and he lets the Dowager know that he can't lie to the Crawleys.
All of that worrying Isobel did about the luncheon turned out to be pointless because Ethel pulled everything together beautifully. Everyone is impressed. The subject of Edith being offered a newspaper column comes up and Isobel mentions hearing that Lord Grantham is against the whole idea. Cora makes an excellent point when she says that Lord Grantham makes decisions based on things that are no longer relevant.
Just as Mary is remarking about how she and Matthew are supportive of Edith, in walks Lord Grantham. Mr. Carson snitched and he is highly miffed that they are under the same roof as a known prostitute.
Isobel defends Ethel and her decision to help her rebuild her life. The Dowager is sitting on one side of the table throwing shade under her breath while Cora gives Robert the double FO: They aren't leaving with him. When all of the Crowley women side with Cora and don't get up from the table, Lord Grantham has to leave with his tail between his legs.
Back at the house that night, Lady Mary confronts her father. She believes that he's acting out because he's no longer getting his way. Lady Mary lets him know that on the issue of baby Sybil's christening, he will lose. She's on his side but she wants to respect what Sybil wanted for her child. Lord Grantham reflects on missing Lady Sybil and all that he has been going through since she died. Mary begs him to tell Cora all of this but he thinks she won't want to hear it.
Anna is concerned because it's been a while and Mr. Murray has yet to meet with Mrs. Bartlett to get her statement. Lady Mary urges her to not lose hope. Things will work out. When Mr. Murry does finally meet with her, Mrs. Bartlett changes up her story.
Bates is convinced that she was bribed and one of the guys on the inside had something to do with it. Bates jacks up one of the prisoners who is keeping Mrs. Bartlett from talking. If Mrs. Bartlett doesn't talk and talk soon, Bates will get him in trouble with the governor.
Bates putting ole dude in a headlock works because, shortly after, Anna gets a letter from Mr. Murray saying that Bates will be set free.
Dr. Clarkson makes a visit to Lord and Lady Grantham in hopes of giving them a little bit more insight into what happened with Lady Sybil. He has done some research and, due to Sybil's condition, there was only a slight chance that she would have survived. He doesn't give Sir Tapsill's actions a pass but he does say that there were no guarantees where Sybil was concerned. Now, Cora and Robert can stop blaming one another for Sybil's death and begin the healing process.
I'd also like to give a special shout out to Mrs. Patmore for calling Ivy a hussy because she was wearing blush.
Until next time...
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